2014 Healthcare Achievement Awards

By
Kitty McConnell
Photos by Tim Johnson

Good health is everything.

It enables people and communities to realize their potential. When affordable, quality healthcare is available, communities thrive. Businesses and other vital institutions and their workforces are better able to focus on what they do best. And when healthcare providers strive to improve community health, we all benefit.

Realizing the critical importance of healthcare to the local economy and wellbeing, Columbus CEO proudly presents our second annual HealthCare Achievement Awards to 18 individuals and organizations working daily to make central Ohio a healthier place to live, work and prosper.

Winners and finalists in eight categories are profiled in this issue. They were nominated late last year and selected by an independent panel of three distinguished physicians for the awards they will receive in a reception Feb. 13 at the Columbus Museum of Art.

Finalists are being recognized in six of the categories, with tie votes producing two finalists each in two categories. The categories being recognized are:

Executive of the Year

Rising Above

Practitioner of the Year

Community Partner

R&D Initiative

Wellness Program

Volunteers of the Year

Lifetime Achievement

Read on to learn how these individuals and institutions are benefiting the Columbus area through their dedication to improving access to high quality care, reaching out to those in need, educating health professionals and consumers and finding effective new treatments. To your health!

—Mary Yost

Selection Committee

Neal Nesbitt MDDr. Neal Nesbitt is the 2013-14 president of the Ohio State Medical Association.

Nesbitt is chief of surgery at OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital in Athens, a position he has held since 1995. From 2008-2010, he also served as the hospital’s chief of staff. He has been a surgeon with Athens Medical Associates since 2011.

Nesbitt earned his medical degree from UCLA and completed a surgery fellowship at Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Los Angeles.

Akram Boutros MDDr. Akram Boutros has a 20-year history as a hospital executive. He was appointed president and CEO of the MetroHealth System in Cleveland in May of 2013.

Boutros is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. Beyond hospital walls, Boutros serves as an advisor to several Fortune 500 executives. He has received honorary knighthood from the Royal House of Bourbon and the Vatican, the Presidential Medal from St. John’s University and the Cardiovascular Science Award from the American Heart Association.

John Fortney MDDr. John Fortney has more than 32 years of physician experience and seven years of experience in healthcare administration.

Fortney has been with Adena Health System in Chillicothe for 30 years and was also an attending physician in the Emergency Medicine Department at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He is Adena’s chief medical officer.

Fortney received his bachelor of science and medical degrees from Ohio State University. The Chillicothe resident is board-certified in pediatrics.